In all seriousness, this has been weighing on my mind lately. A friend of mine had been nagging for months for me to join he and a few other people in a friendly game or two of Counterstrike on the PC. I was hesitant, because I just don't feel that I'm very skilled in FPS games, but last week I finally caved.

Aside from some basic issues with maps not loading properly, it was fun-ish. I, of course, got slaughtered within the first minute of almost every round, but it was fun to watch the rest of them...well, get slaughtered shortly thereafter. There is voice chat, which was nice--when I was able to understand what was being said. One guy must have had a mic buried between his gums and inner cheek because I didn't understand 90% of what he was saying. Typing messages was ok, but mostly something I did after I was dead.

All in all, the experience was mediocre. Back in the day, I used to play things like Quake 3 and Unreal online, but it was usually brief as I can barely hold my own in those games. AvP2 was fun as well, and had some interesting elements of terrifying surprise to keep me interested a little longer. There was a short time when I played some MMORPG called "The Realm", and that actually ate up quite a bit of my playing time until it got overrun with hacked players and items. Total, I have probably spent less than 100 hours of my life playing online multiplayer.

So, on to the question. Why do people play games online? I'm interesting in seeing reasons for it AND against it. Do you play for the interaction with other people, the challenge, the ability to verbally abuse your opponents and/or friends? What elements of online play make it so alluring, or such a turnoff? I'm on the fence, as I've yet to play much of anything online that really hooked me in, but I haven't given up on the genre. There has been some recent talk of an Animal Crossing game for the Wii going MMO and that would be interesting, if done well. What do you think?

Well i really enjoy online multiplayer...i play for a few reasons..1. to actually test how good u are in a game with great comp...2. to just have a good time with friends and all being bunch in a room together, fighting for the remote....for me the best online game i ave played yet was Socom II and III...i couldnt get enough of it...it was something i actually looked forward to playing while either at work or school.. Online play does has a down side though of lag and glitches and wat not but, thats just part of gaming..u learn to deal with it..
So YES i am a fan of online multiplayer games!

in my lifetime excluding things like yahoo games while at work i have played a total of 1 series in Mario Strikers Charged online. i'll play more once i get more used to the controls of the game i'm sure. but i just like the fact that you're playing against a person, not A.I. Play a game enough any you'll be able to beat A.I. everytime just because you get used to how the computer plays, but when you play against a person it's cool because you have to adapt pretty quickly to their playing style while still doing what you do to win. It's a nice change from playing the same old computer every game.
i have friends addicted to Halo online and whatnot, i just never got into that and refused to get xbox live solely because i didn't have time to be playing 100+ hours per week. now i have a different job so i have the time so i'll play strikers once i get a bit more practice in.

And I play online games because of the AI...The computer's mind can only function to a certain extent of the human's mind so you can outwit them easily and they allways make careless mistakes...but people you play online are alot more experienced and can actually improve...

And I play online games because of the AI...The computer's mind can only function to a certain extent of the human's mind so you can outwit them easily and they allways make careless mistakes...but people you play online are alot more experienced and can actually improve...

One of the reason online gaming can suck is the massive amount of screaming 14 year olds whose vocabulary consist only of swears and rude comments. Don't get me wrong, I love smack talking an opponent after I beat them, but only to a point. That is one nice thing about not having voice on the wii yet. If you want to play a game with friends and use voice just pull your computer close to your wii and set up a VOIP session. I think though what the big N should do is to have some kind of head set and if they are so worried about people who complain about rude people, set it up so that voice only works with people on your friends list.

I used to play Half Life 2 and Counter Strike online and did have a lot of fun. There's nothing better than capping other people constantly over and over. Then i got into that MMORPG thing for a while playing City of Villians and then realized that I've been spending waaaay too much time on it - especially when I realized that 3 months had flew by so quick. So I had to stop with that. Then I started playing Battlefield 2142 after my co-workers kept on bugging me to get online. The problem with that was that since I havent been playing FPSs online for so long that I tottally got my ass kicked everytime so I ended up stopping there.

But as far as online gaming goes, yeah I think its a good thing. It does provide that extra fun when the single player aspect of the games gets old. It also allows you to test your skills against other people who you would normally not find locally (if you're really that good). And it also allows you to actually compete with real life gamers instead of AI. Theres definately a lot of benefits to it which is why i definately think Nintendo should push the online gaming aspect a bit more in their future games - but of course don't over shadow the single player aspect either.

i've never been a pc gamer, and thus have never played any of the games you all have mentioned. as a matter of fact, my first experience with online gaming was with msc--and i must say, i love it. not only does it allow a player to experience playing the game with random people from across the country, but it simply allows a gamer to play with an actual person as well! i'm a single, 22-year old male, who lives in a house with only one other occupant, and that occupant has absolutely no interest in games whatsoever. so, it's either the computer, or no one. with the online features, this gives me--along with a lot of other people in my situation--an oppurtunity to play actual people, albeit virtually. that's why i play, and i'm looking forward to more games online (like mariokart wii!!!)

MMOs have less boundaries than other games. Say whatcha like, kill whatcha want and you get real genuine responses from other people playing in real time. Its a fascinating way to meet others. The whole world is at your fingertips y'know.

I play b/c its competitive. Could be dead cold in winter or hot in summer so me and my buddies just hop online and play in the same clan. can't really explain it. Compare it to smoking. Addiction is hard to put off.

Its the challenge of trying to win from a real player. The AI is predictable ( in most games ) and you can win easy. But from a player its a different thing. Also in battlefield 2142 its the joy of working together and playing a big battle with 64 players. All sorts of sh!t happens. I just love the sight of it. I dont care if Im winning.

Im hoping medal of honor will do the same thing for me ( just like bwII )